SCHOOL DRUG TESTING DECISION IS APPLAUDED

The Indiana Court of Appeals decision to limit student drug testing is
good news. The unwarranted presumption of guilt is not the only reason
to oppose drug testing; hair tests and urinalysis are highly
problematic.

Urinalysis is virtually useless in detecting hard drugs. And it can be
counterproductive by encouraging hard drug use by smokers of
relatively harmless marijuana.

Alcohol is the most commonly abused drug and it takes far more student
lives than all illegal drugs combined -- and it's almost impossible to
detect with urinalysis.

Drug testing profiteers do not readily volunteer this information, for
obvious reasons.

The shortcomings of hair testing are far more sinister. Dark haired
individuals are more likely to test positive than fair-haired drug
users.

This racial bias is reason enough to avoid hair tests, especially in
light of the fact that blacks already bear the brunt of anti-drug
enforcement.

Rather than waste tax dollars on counterproductive, racist and
un-Constitutional drug tests (that any student capable of running an
Internet search can figure out how to thwart anyway), why not evaluate
academic performance rather than the contents of their hair and urine?

Robert Sharpe
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
George Washington University
Washington, D.C.